[ODFW-News] Commercial Dungeness crab season to open north of Cape Falcon Jan. 15

[ODFW News]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 	
For more information 503-947-6002
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us  


For immediate release	Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004

Commercial Dungeness crab season to open north of Cape Falcon Jan. 15

NEWPORT - Commercial Dungeness crab season north of Cape Falcon will
open on Jan. 15.
The commercial crab season along most of the Oregon coast opened as
scheduled on Dec. 1, but the area north of Cape Falcon, about 30 miles
south of the Columbia River, remained closed.

Last month, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife adopted a
temporary rule to split the opening date for the Oregon 2004-05 ocean
commercial Dungeness crab fishery. Quality testing indicated that the
area off the mouth of the Columbia River had crab that was not projected
to meet the minimum meat fill-out rate.

Fishery managers initially projected an opening north of Cape Falcon on
Dec. 15 and then by Dec. 29, but the crab did not meet minimum fill out.
Following recent testing in the area around the Columbia River, however,
crab fishery managers now project that the crab north of Cape Falcon
will be ready for harvest by Jan. 15.

The split opening dates for Oregon allowed much of the coast to open as
scheduled while giving time for crab in the north to fill out to the
required pick-out rate. The pick-out rate is the percentage, by weight,
of the crab's meat to the total weight of the crab. It takes about two
to three months for an adult male crab to fill-out its new shell
following molt in the late summer. During this period the leg and body
meat is watery and of poor quality.

An agreement between California, Oregon and Washington includes
procedures for pre-season meat pick-out testing of Dungeness crab.  If
minimum crab pick-out rates are not met (23 percent north and 25 percent
south of Cascade Head in Oregon), a procedure delays the season on all
or part of the West Coast.  

A test done last weekend put the average pick-out percentage for crab
north of Cape Falcon at 21.2 - too low to meet the minimum rate for
opening the area before Jan. 15. To provide a more orderly fishery
during a split opening, commercial crab-vessel operators must declare
their intention to fish north or south of Cape Falcon. Those vessels
fishing south of Cape Falcon must wait 30 days following the opening
north of Cape Falcon to fish that area.

The rules do allow a "pre-soak" where fishers may deploy their gear
64-hours before the season officially opens. That would allow those
vessels who fish north of Cape Falcon to deploy their gear starting 8
a.m. Jan 12. Vessels intending to fish north of Cape Falcon must also
receive a hold inspection certificate from the Oregon State Police
before fishing the area.

The Dungeness crab fishery is the most valuable single-species fishery
in Oregon. Annual landings in Oregon are between 10 million and 23
million pounds - about one-fourth of the total catch from northern
California to Alaska.

###